Aston Villa 2 – 1 Nottingham Forest: How the players rated

Back to back victories for the first time since April have propelled us into the top 10 positions and left the team spirit at it’s peak so far this season… but how did the individual players fare tonight?

Sam Johnstone – 8

The loanee was in control of his defenders all night; keeping them organised, claiming crosses and topping it off with a stunning save to deny Forest an equaliser. If it wasn’t for the one goal that we were unfortunate to concede, he would have been rated higher.

Ahmed Elmohamady – 6

Offered a decent contribution on the front foot, but was often caught napping and was beaten far too many times by McKay.

James Chester – 8

Made some brilliant interceptions all through the match, and looked very much at home next to the England legend John Terry. The only minor criticism would be that he was beaten a little too easily during the build up to Forest’s goal.

John Terry – 7

I’ve given Terry a similar review to Chester for exactly the same reasons. His positioning was exceptional, but he did make a rash decision to break the defensive shape during the build up to the equaliser so I’ve marked him down too.

Neil Taylor – 8

Did his job very well on the left; kept the Forest attack quiet and offered good support to Adomah too. An efficient performance from the Welshman.

Glenn Whelan – 6

Once again, Whelan follows up fantastic tackles and positioning with stupid mistakes in key moments. He was at fault for the equaliser, and regularly required help to prevent his man from advancing. He’s in the team by default at the moment… Jedinak will be licking his lips.

Conor Hourihane – 9

He had a slow start to the game, but he regularly got Whelan out of trouble, kept the attack moving, performed his defensive duties and capped it off with a sumptuous Free Kick to win the game.

Robert Snodgrass – 6

For a player of his ability, Robert Snodgrass has been disappointing since he signed. That being said, he did make a brilliant run to open up the space for Adomah to score the opening goal. He did not carry out his defensive work well enough though; nor he did not show any of the attacking potency that we expect from him. I’m sure that with a bit of match sharpness however, we will see the real Robert Snodgrass.

Keinan Davis – 7

He did all that was asked of him today… he fashioned out some good chances too. Davis really is growing into a very good player.

Albert Adomah – 8

Fantastic performance yet again from Adomah. He terrorised the Forest right-back and scored a beautiful goal… a great performance from him.

Jonathan Kodjia – 7

The African made some brilliant runs all through the match; stretching the play and winning the decisive free kick. However, his selfish streak has carried forward into this season and that needs to stop- right now.